12-years after Stacy Peterson's disappearance, her sister is helping others, but still searching

On the eve of the 12-year anniversary of the day Stacy Peterson disappeared, her sister, Cassandra Cales, was at the Bolingbrook Community Center to help others search for missing loved ones.

Peterson, the then 23-year-old Bolingbrook mother of two, went missing On Oct. 27, 2007.

Cales, who has never given up her search, donned a purple T-Shirt with a photo of Stacy as she was on hand to meet with families going through their own searches.

The gathering was part of the October meeting of the Community Cold Case Squad, Bolingbrook – an organization that started in January to help those looking for missing loved ones and Cales wants to be able to use what she has gone through to assist others.

"It is taking the bad that I have gone through and making it positive for people who are in the same situation as me and offer them advice, talk to them or just listen to them. I am there to help in any way I can," Cales said. "When it happened to me, I was alone. I am still alone, but I have figured out how to get the resources I need. In the beginning, I didn't even know what sonar was – I thought it was a fish finder and I can't catch a fish for the life of me. Now, I can read sonar, I know all about cadaver dogs. Knowledge is power."

Throughout her search, Cales learned how to get the equipment and resources she needed when she hit roadblocks.

"You are going to run into road blocks and dead ends, but you just turn and keep going. Just because law enforcement does their thing, it doesn't mean we can't do ours," she said. "A lot of people are afraid of going public or reaching out to me, they think they are bothering me because I have my sister's case. I am a people helper, and Stacy was, too.

I never have cared what people think about me or anything. I don't go on in the media to be a movie star – believe me, when I am on TV, you don't realize what is going on inside. I am having a panic attack, it is not fun for me, it is just to keep the awareness and let people know I am still fighting for my loved one. If people are afraid, they can call me and I will help them."

While she is helping others, Cales does not plan to stop looking for Stacy – event after 12 years or despite the fact that the man they suspect killed her, former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson, is in prison for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, as well as soliciting the murder of James Glasgow, the Will County prosecutor who put him behind bars.

"I am not going to give up," Cales said. "You never lose hope, you stay positive and keep going and if it overwhelms you, don't think about months ahead of time, I take it one day at a time, one step at a time and if that gets to be too much – one breath at a time.

"People will remember Stacy and me for centuries – I will make sure of it. I am really close to bringing her home. It is about to happen and it is going to be really big."